Plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) composites: Influence of different nanofillers as antimigration agents

In this study, plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) composites with different nanofillers, including single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), organoclay, TiO₂, and ZnO nanoparticles, were prepared, and their effects on plasticizer migration were investigated. Scanning electron micrographs revealed the dispersion quality of the nanofillers in the polymer matrix. It had a significant influence on the performance of the nanofillers in the process of plasticizer migration. Migration and exudation tests showed that the nanofillers could efficiently hinder plasticizer migration. On the basis of these results, we concluded that carbon nanotubes were the best antimigration agent in the plasticized system. This was ascribed to the high aspect ratio of the SWCNTs and the good interactions between them and the plasticizer. Also, TiO₂ nanoparticles showed a better performance compared to the ZnO nanoparticles. This was due to the more homogeneous dispersion of the TiO₂ in the polymer matrix and the higher surface area of the particles. The differential scanning calorimetry thermograms were in good agreement with the migration tests. The lowest change in the glass‐transition temperature was observed for the composite filled with SWCNTs. This indicated that a lower amount of the plasticizer migrated from PVC. The thermogravimetric analysis curves showed that the incorporation of the nanofillers improved the thermal stability of the PVC. The results could be useful for determining the efficiency of plasticized PVC in applications. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42559.     

An extensive review of various technologies for enhancing the thermal and optical performances of parabolic trough collectors

A wide range of engineering industrial applications require both the thermal and optical efficiencies of the system to be maximized with a reasonable low penalty for the friction factor and subsequently low losses in pressure. Among the family of concentrated solar power systems, parabolic trough collectors (PTCs), which have recently received significant attention, face similar challenges. The current work presents an extensive review of the PTC systems comparing recent and past technologies, which are widely being used to improve and enhance the thermal and optical efficiencies. Furthermore, the techniques used for single and two-phase flow modeling in numerical simulations, design variables, and experimental processes have been discussed in detail. The article also presents different numerical methods and analytical approaches of implementing the nonuniform solar distribution with different design parameters. Four main technologies are comprehensively addressed to effectively enhance the thermal performance of the PTCs; changing working heat transfer fluids, replacing the working fluids by nanofluids (single and hybrid) that have higher thermal–physical properties than those of base working fluids, inserting different tabulators with various design configurations, and finally combining the advantages of nanofluids and swirl generators in the same application. The article also critically summarizes the studies investigating the enhancement of thermal performance: use of novel design of PTCs and passive heat transfer enhancement techniques. Finally, a wide range of numerical and experimental studies are proposed for the future work related to the aforementioned main technologies.     

LPTF frequency synthesis chain: results and improvement for thenear future

We describe the modified LPTF frequency synthesis chain, which starts from the cesium referenced CO₂/OsO₄ laboratory standard. This chain, with variations, is able to cover the whole visible spectrum. A particular scheme is given in order to measure the 385.3-THz frequency of the two-photon transitions in rubidium. To secure the phase lock, the diode lasers' linewidths have to be reduced. We report a 10-Hz beatnote linewidth obtained with two diode lasers stabilized on the same high-finesse cavity     

Multiparameter singular perturbation problems: Iterative expansions and asymptotic stability

Recursive formulae are derived which yield asymptotic expansions for the eigenvalues of multiparameter singular perturbation problems. These formulae follow readily from an exact expression for the eigenvalues which involves an implicit matrix function. The implicit function satisfies an algebraic matrix Riccati equation reminiscent of a similar equation of the single parameter theory. The results also explicate the ‘block D-stability’ criterion for asymptotic stability previously introduced by Khalil and Kokotovic.     

Homogeneous Catalytic Cleavage of Saturated Carbon-Nitrogen Bonds

An evaluation of the catalytic reactivity of [CPD (CO)₂RuH]₂ (1) and (CPD)(CO)₃Ru (2) (where CPD = tetraphenylcyclopentadienone) with amines suggests that these complexes catalyze C-N bond cleavage by activating C-H bonds alpha to the nitrogen atom of tertiary, secondary and primary amines at ca. 140° C. When two different amines are used, transalkylation takes place. With secondary and primary amines, ammonia and tertiary amines are formed. A series of amine complexes (CPD)(CO)₂Ru.NR₃ (R = alkyl/H) was isolated from stoichiometric reactions of 1 or 2 with primary and secondary amines. It was found that tertiary amines do not generate complexes of the above type but rather unexpectedly give secondary amine complexes by cleavage of an alkyl group. The only isolatable tertiary amine complex is the moderately stable (CPD)(CO)₂RuNMe₃. All amine complexes were characterized by spectral and elemental analyses. Catalytic aspects of C-N bond cleavage were studied. Complexes (1) and (2) were found to react with primary, secondary and tertiary amines to generate imminium or eneamine species which subsequently undergo hydrolysis with water. This is in contrast to the Ru carbene mechanism previously proposed for cluster catalyzed C-N bond activation and cleavage. The two reactions are compared with respect to D for H exchange (with D₂O), water requirement and production of trace products during catalysis. A primary alcohol was found to substitute alkyl groups of a tertiary amine under the catalytic action of 1. A catalytic reaction cycle is proposed.     

Improved Analysis for Distortion in Emitter-Driven Variable Gain Pairs

This article presents an improved analysis for the distortion inemitter-driven variable-gain pairs owing to the Early-voltage effect. Theanalysis shows that, by careful design, it is possible to reduce thesecond-order distortion components resulting from the Early-voltage effect.The analysis shows also that, under large signal conditions, the value ofthe normalized input amplitude at which the second-harmonic distortion isminimum is different from the value of the normalized input amplitude atwhich the second-order intermodulation distortion is minimum.     

Pseudo Almost Periodic Solution of Recurrent Neural Networks with D Operator on Time Scales

This paper is concerned with a class of neutral type recurrent neural networks with time-varying delays, distributed delay and D operator on time–space scales which unify the continuous-time and the discrete-time recurrent neural networks under the same framework. Some sufficient conditions are given for the existence and the global exponential stability of the pseudo almost periodic solution by using inequality analysis techniques on time scales, fixed point theorem and the theory of calculus on time scales. An example is given to show the effectiveness of the derived results via computer simulations.